Write! Like A Boss!

So one day you're on top of the world, with a glowing 5 star review  and a successful turn on the the top 100 bestseller lists on Amazon, and you're feeling like you could be a real writer after all... the next day you're slammed with a 2 star review, and the reviewer doesn't seem to have found any of the good points of the 5 star reviewer... Happens to the best of us, right? "There really is no accounting for taste." That's why this blog post comes at the perfect time. Love the attitude. And, by the way, my favorite scene from the Incredibles involves Edna, the super hero costume designer. As she says, "I never look back, darling! It distracts from the now!" ~Jeff

The following is reblogged from ChazzWrites.com

Write! Like a Boss!

One of the movies we love here in the secret bunker is The Incredibles. I love a good Bond movie and The Incredibles is superheroes in a Bond movie. It’s a lot of fun, though, for me, the most effecting scene is where the missiles close on the plane with kids on board. Having kids makes you cry easily and I’ve cried during that scene several times over.

Kind of a Spoiler

In the original plot for The Incredibles, the plot called for the plane to be piloted by an ordinary human — a sweet old man and friend of Elastigirl — who gets killed in the explosion. That was revised when they decided it was too dark a turn for a kids’ movie.

The best scene

For my wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, the scene she always brings up first is the attack on the city.

Samuel L. Jackson, primed to defend innocents and come out of retirement, really sells it when he sees the devastation and shouts, “Honey! Where is my super suit?!” 

His wife’s reply: “Oh, no you don’t! I have been planning this dinner with the Robinsons for weeks!”

“Honey! Where is my super suit?!“ 

The juxtaposition of the mundane with a superhero’s clothing needs is funny, but it doesn’t stand out as much for me. She Who Must Be Obeyed is not wrong. (That can never happen.) However, it underlines that we can’t predict how our writing will be received. We must write for ourselves and hope others of like mind will find us (or we must find them). When I wrote for magazines, I was often surprised which bit of a column provoked outrage and what spurred letters of admiration. People won’t necessarily unpack your book the way you thought you sent it.

Read more here

Love in a Mystery/Thriller? What's Love Got To Do With It?

 Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken? Why, your protagonist, of course! Exploring the human side of characters is an important element of a story, even stories within "non-romance" genres, like mysteries and thrillers. For example, exploring  a protagonist's relationships and developing love interests not only adds an element of suspense (such as when the reader is not sure if the hero will get the girl), but gives your main character a dose of humanity which will hopefully resonate with readers. 

In my Eb Maclean books, Fortress of Lies and Judgment Tramp, the protagonist wants love but has an underlying fear, because of his past, that he may be unworthy of it. He is "damaged goods". His desire to love again and fear of remaining distant from it, is a driving force behind solving the books' central mysteries and peeling back the layers of deceit within his own family. Eb's trust and anger issues, as well as his (not necessarily ungrounded) paranoia further complicate things.  His two sisters keep secrets from him, and he often finds himself in danger because of them.

A protagonist's love life can serve a useful purpose within the story framework--and more than that, it can be a foundation for every other aspect of the story. Janet Evanovich uses the two men in Stephanie Plum's life to give her access into a shady world that she would otherwise never experience. Ranger is her mentor, helping her to learn and survive as a bounty hunter, and Ranger's business interests also provide an almost endless number of mysteries for her to solve. Stephanie's other love, Joe Morelli, is a cop. It's natural that Ranger and Joe Morelli will tangle with each other occasionally, just as it is also natural that they will occasionally come together to help Stephanie when she's gotten herself in too deep. The other loves in Stephanie's life, her worry-wart mother, her long suffering father, her eccentric grandmother, all contribute to the chaos. The end result of those complex (and oftentimes comical) relationships is a fiction writer's dream.

Relationships always come with baggage of some type or another, and that can help us make sense of why a character does certain things--and often the key relationship in someone's life provides the impetus to drive a character to risk everything to solve a mystery. Eb Maclean isn't looking for trouble, but when someone puts a bomb in his sister's car he is forced to find them--because his sister, Maggie, won't be safe until that person is caught. Eb's deep love for Maggie is revealed when the reader sees what lengths he will go to in order to catch the bomber, and the possible consequence of losing her raises the stakes of the game--to a point where Eb must solve the mystery or lose everything that he cares about.

Love can also allow us to see a softer side of a character--and at the same time reveal what humans are capable of doing for love. A person can commit a crime for an altruistic reason--a man could rob a bank to get money for an operation that might save his son, and it could spiral out of control from there as the situation turns into a hostage crisis inside the bank. Is the man a good guy who made a bad choice--or is he a bad guy with a good motive for this one particular crime? The story could be written several different ways, but the love for his son would tend to humanize the man in the reader's eyes in any case. 

There are many ways that a protagonists' love life can mold a story--and working the relationship angle to the fullest can make the difference between a flat, lifeless story and a great read. Love has everything to do with it--because it is a big reason why people do what they do.

How does your protagonist's love life impact the plot of your work?

Starting at the beginning of your story..the real beginning.

Believe it or not, The Guns of August is a book about a certain time...August.

More to the point, it's a book  about events taking place in Europe during August of 1914, as the great powers of Europe bluffed, blustered, and ultimately stumbled into WWI. (The Guns of August is considered to be the definitive book about the start of WWI).
August was the final month of decision for the European powers--the month that turned the short war that all the principles thought they were fighting into the long, bloody, tragic war that actually occurred. Germany, France, Russia and Britain reached the decision to go to war in late July and early August, but the event that many people associate with starting the war is the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian nationalists in June of 1914.

So it would make sense that The Guns of August would start somewhere within that 1914 timeline--but that isn't the case at all. Barbara Tuchman, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Guns of August, started her book with a description of the funeral of Edward Vll in May, 1910. It's the perfect place to begin the narrative, because the leaders of Europe attended the funeral, and the intrigue at that event does a great job of setting the stage for the conflagration to come.

Tuchman then spends several chapters covering other aspects of the lead-up to war, and the events of August, 1914 aren't delved into until chapter 6 of her book.

The point of the above dissertation? Barbara Tuchman knew what she wanted to write about--and she knew just where to start the story for maximum effect. Tuchman realized that the reader needed background in order to understand the story she wanted to tell, but she never forgot her main subject (described aptly by the title of the book)--and the result is a masterpiece.

Budding fiction writers often get into big trouble when they confuse background details with the plot of their story, and they get into further trouble when they enter the story at the wrong place in time. Sometimes they start the story too soon, and the book ends up with 80 pages of fluff before the real story begins. Or worse, the story doesn't start when it should, and the reader is left abandoned on page 2 in the middle of nowhere without anything to hold on to, and shortly thereafter gives up on the book.

Starting the story at the right point in time is one of the most critical judgments a writer can make--and there's no set formula for success.Every book is different, and a writer has to go with his or her gut and hope it leads in the right direction.

I knew I had a good start on my book, Judgment Tramp, when I reached the halfway point of the first draft and I was still comfortable with my first chapter. Looking back, I realize that the action in the first chapter provided a tipping point for the story--and all of the intrigue, twists and turns in the book could logically flow from the moment in chapter 1 when a bomb went off in Maggie's car. That event was the "what" of the book, and the reaction of the characters in the book to that event is the "why" of the story. Everything I did in the plotting of the book related directly to those two principals, and in doing so I successfully followed the same logic that Barbara Tuchman used when writing her book.

The real beginning to a story is the beginning that makes everything afterward flow smoothly towards an exciting, satisfying ending--but even more important, a good page 1 needs to lead to a great page two, and a better page 3, and.... 
Finding that entry point into a story is easy sometimes, but often it isn't immediately apparent--and I think most writers struggle with it more often than not.

When I look back at the work I haven't finished, or the books I wrote that I'm unhappy with, the entry point into the story is usually a major part of the problem. Just like Barbara Tuchman, it's important to know what story we want to tell, and then determine the best place to start in order to give just the right amount of back story to draw your readers in, and build toward a satisfying climax and ending.

So what questions should we be asking ourselves to help us determine the best point at which to start our story?

I can think of three different timelines right now:

1. The moment when the protagonist first realizes the magnitude of the challenge that awaits. In Judgment Tramp, this moment is when the bomb explodes in Maggie's car. Someone dies in that explosion, but for my protagonist, Eb Maclean, the horror of the murder is initially secondary, because he realizes that the bomb was meant to kill his sister--and that's all he can think about. 
In a romance novel, it could be the moment when a woman meets her eventual lover--even if the character doesn't initially understand what's happening.

2. The moment when a character understands the cost of a prior action. A novel might start with the death of a character, and then flashback to the events that led to his or her demise.

3. A funny, absurd, or poignant moment in your protagonist's life that is interesting solely because of what it reveals about the character. Lawrence Sanders was adept at using that device in his Archy McNally mystery series. The actual story can begin later--but the beginning can make the reader fall for the character and instill a desire to learn more about his or her life.

What do you think? Give me some ideas on how you might approach this in your work. I'd love to get your perspective!

Fear of Rejection: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger?

I don't know about you, but I have my moments of cowardice, and there are some things that bother the heck out of me. I don't like sharks--and I'm absolutely sure that one will be having me for dinner the moment I jump into the water.  I'm not a big fan of power tools or machinery, especially after having the tip of my right ring finger re-attached after an accident involving a forklift. And most of all, I'm afraid of something a lot of people are afraid of--I'm afraid of rejection.

Writers have to deal with rejection all the time, so it follows that the writers who last in the business do so by finding ways to get past the hurt of receiving a bad review or a rejection slip in order to get something productive accomplished.

More to the point, writers have to find ways to make rejection work for them. In fact, it might not be a stretch to say that rejection, at least to some degree, is an essential element of professional writing. Rejection winnows out the weak and unfit--it serves as a form of career darwinism to improve the breed. I think there was some hand wringing from industry insiders when e-books came along--but I think the darwinistic trend of the e-market will function normally; it will still be a business where only the strong survive and the true talent rises to the top of the pile. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Writers have to figure out a way to motivate themselves when rejection comes calling, and how an individual writer handles rejection will sometimes determine the path a writer takes in the quest for success.If a writer is trying to snag an agent, then the first step on the path to success is essentially laid out--and some great writers struggled for years before finally achieving success in finding an agent, Indie authors may have dodged that bullet, but there are still many bumps in the road to endure before an indie writer can become successful. I'm sure some indie authors went down that path to avoid the agent's slush pile, but I believe that being a successful indie writer is at least as hard as becoming a traditionally published author.

Indie authors still have to sell books, and that entails so much more than writing. Indie authors may skip the agent finding process, but indie writers still have to deal with the criticism of the marketplace. More than any other writer, indie writers live and die by customer reviews. It's big part of the indie marketing process.

Indie writers have to put work out on the market to find out where they stand. An essential part of the indie writer's education is to understand how to interpret customer feedback--it's great if your project gets wonderful reviews, but it isn't the end of the world if you receive a few tough reviews--those reviews tell you about your work, and they also reveal a lot about your readers--because every review says as much about the author of the review as it does about your work.

I wouldn't jump on my proverbial sword because of a bad review, and I certainly would resist the urge to think I knew everything about writing just because I received a few good reviews. I'll do my best to learn everything I can about this craft, but at the end of the day I have to write the way I write. People will either buy into what I'm doing or they won't--but at least I will have been true to myself. I urge you to do the same.

Streamlined Writing

I like streamlined things--most of the trains, planes and automobiles I love are streamlined designs. My favorite big cat is the cheetah, and even though I have a horrible fear of them, I'm in awe of the way sharks can cut through the water.

My writing, however, was anything but streamlined when I started--it was downright flabby. I could never resist the urge to write ten sentences when one would do--and my early writing was plagued with excessive narrative that didn't add a thing to the story.

I still struggle with it--and worse yet, I sometimes overcompensate and cut too much out of my writing because I'm terrified of loading my work down with flab.

Over time I've learned (well, I've almost learned) to take certain steps to keep my writing streamlined without overdoing it.

The first step was to understand what kind of writer I am--I'm not a 21st century male version of Jane Austen--and I'm happy to admit it. I want to write tight prose that hammers out the story with a bare minimum of language, and I'm learning to structure my writing that way right from the first draft. That was my early mistake; I overwrote my early first drafts, with the mistaken assumption that I could edit that bloated writing into a workable story or essay. It didn't work--and now I try to do just the opposite. Most of my rewriting now is adding details, and it seems to work better for me.

The second step is to use the dialogue in my story to its fullest extent to tell the story. I think many beginning writers are terrified of dialogue, but I think it's a misplaced fear. Characters can reveal essential elements of the story in a few sentences of dialogue that might be difficult, or even impossible to convey with less than a half page of narrative.  Don't get me wrong--I think narrative has its place, but too often the flab in a story can be found in the narrative. I know that's true for me.

The final step is to keep the story balanced. I described my method for achieving that in an earlier blog, and it really works well for me. I usually get too involved in character development, and it's a constant struggle to pare the character development back so it doesn't overwhelm every other aspect of the writing.

Every word in a story or essay must earn its keep, and I think that's the biggest challenge of all. Language is the writer's best friend, but it is a friend that needs to be reigned in constantly so the story can shine at full brilliance.

PTSD,TBI, and Thomas Tweed

**Way back, oh, 6 months or so ago, I began my Twitter life, and was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Benjamin X. Wretlind. Ben is an insightful, thought-provoking writer, and a gentleman to boot. I was immediately intrigued by the unique concept behind his Sketches From the Spanish Mustang novellas, and the book to be released July 1. I've read several of the novellas, including Cpl.Thomas Tweed's War. The protagonist in my books, Eb Maclean, also suffers from PTSD, like Thomas, and so I am doubly thrilled for the chance to host Benjamin Wretlind as a guest today as he discusses his character Thomas Tweed..**

My thanks to Jeff for allowing me to write all over his blog. As I mentioned in my preview, Jeff and I go way back...almost months, and in the social networking, connected world we live in, that's quite a long time ago. What I've learned from Jeff is that he is extremely helpful, always willing to go the extra mile, and he's a great writer.

Since Jeff recently posted a piece on his blog about post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) and how it relates to his character Eb Maclean, who appears in several works including Judgment Tramp, I asked him if he'd like to host this bit on PTSD, TBI and Thomas Tweed. Being the helpful person Jeff is, he said yes (of course).

As Jeff, in his recent blog post on PTSD, said, "PTSD isn't just about having flashbacks (the standard TV drama treatment of the condition) or temper issues, and sometimes the truth of the condition's effect on someone is quite graphic. I want Eb Maclean to be real, but I'm learning that every little aspect of his condition doesn't need to be explained in detail. In fact, most of those details are probably more of a distraction to the storyline."

Thomas Tweed is one of the central characters in Sketches from the Spanish Mustang and his story is probably the most complicated and strange I've written.  It's important to understand that even if a particular story line doesn't seem to include him, he's there nonetheless. When I first set out to sketch Tweed's life, I wasn't at all surprised to find he'd already been stereotyped by many other characters in the book. Thomas is a vagrant. Thomas is weird. Thomas is someone to avoid. Thomas needs help.

With the exception of one character, Thomas is never viewed as the person he really is: a returning Marine who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Afghanistan and was admitted to a hospital in Denver so he could deal with his PTSD.

There is a lot of attention given these day to PTSD and an increased emphasis on TBI, however the fact of the matter is, most people don't understand exactly what a person might be going through, whether they returned from a war zone, they were involved in a crash on the freeway or they simply fell off their bike in the worst possible position.  We look at PTSD as something a veteran might suffer, but that's far from the truth.

In 2010, after I retired from the military, I applied for a job to help returning soldiers find the resources they needed. In addition, I was expected to weed out certain people who showed a possibility of either PTSD or TBI, even if it wasn't documented in their records. While I was very familiar with PTSD and TBI, I wasn't prepared to learn about one case in particular.

A man like Thomas Tweed.

This particular man suffered from an acute loss of memory from an improvised explosive device his squad ran across in Afghanistan during a routine patrol. While a portion of his brain was damaged from the explosion, he was able to recall some things from his past. Through therapy, his brain registered the events that were lost as "memories," but not everything stuck. It was almost like pouring rocks through a sieve: some rocks stay, others pass through the slots in the bottom.

This man had a wife and child, and all three needed help.

I used that case as a background for Thomas, and I also wanted to know what other people thought of him--those who didn't know who he was or what he'd gone through. I wasn't quite sure how to go about doing this until I watched a video from the band Shinedown called "What a Shame."

I'm going to ask you to please watch this video even if rock or alternative music isn't your thing. In particular, pay attention to the lyrics and the video itself. (I'd print the lyrics, but I think that might get someone in trouble with copyrights, etc.)

It was quite a shock to see this video and know exactly what it was I wanted to do: portray a man as seen through different eyes. Not all people would see him the same way, but he's a person nonetheless. He has hopes, fears, desires. Thomas is really the embodiment of every homeless man or woman you see on the street. He is a picture of returning soldiers. He is a man. He is human.

The story of Thomas Tweed is really one of the central themes in Sketches from the Spanish Mustang. While some people may think it revolves around the Artist and her gift or the individual story lines she "sketches," in truth the novel is about seeing things from a different point of view.

Because if we don't do this, we'll never know the truth: we're not all the same.

(And I'll tell you a little secret: it was my grandmother who taught me about the license plates. Incidentally, two of my previously held plates appear in this story. If you're not sure what I mean, you should pick up Sketches from the Spanish Mustang and find out.)

BIOGRAPHY


Benjamin X. Wretlind, the author of Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a Girl with Scissors and Sketches from the Spanish Mustang, has been called "a Pulitzer-caliber writer" with "a unique American voice." Aside from novels, he has been published in many magazines throughout the past 10 years.






SKETCHES FROM THE SPANISH MUSTANG

In Sketches from the Spanish Mustang, a haunting, heart-warming and often brutally direct exploration of the lives of seven people in the mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, a woman must come to grips with the failings that cost the lives of her husband and child. Bestselling author Michael K. Rose says: "Mr. Wretlind has penned a tale of such emotional and literary depth it will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned."


With a pencil, a sketchbook and a keen eye for the details of the soul, the woman's lines and smudges, curves and tone reveal the stories behind her subjects. Life emerges on the page ó vengeance, salvation, love and death. The artist's subjects fight for survival, only to be saved in the sketches of a woman with a gift . . . and a curse.


International Book Award winner Gregory G. Allen calls the book a "unique journey that rips away the outer layers of people allowing us to stare into their souls where humanity is universal: no matter the genre of writing."


Sketches from the Spanish Mustang will be available at all major online retailers for $14.95 on July 1st, 2012.  It will also be presented in an electronic format (e.g. Kindle, nook) for $5.95.

Eb Maclean and PTSD: The Challenge To Keep the Protagonist's Flaw From Taking Over the Story

I mentioned in a previous post that my protagonist in Judgment Tramp, Eb Maclean, has PTSD. His condition is common among servicemen and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in any other hazardous posting.

I made a conscious decision right from the beginning to saddle Eb with these problems--not only because I hoped it would help make him a more believable character, but also to hopefully shed some light on a condition that is more pervasive in our military than we think. About 20% of our returning service-people suffer from PTSD or depression upon returning home, and that number seems to be going up.

Weaving Eb's PTSD into the storyline seemed like a worthy goal, but there were problems, some of which I anticipated, and some that crept up on me once I began the writing process. I looked forward to the opportunity to make Eb flawed, and the PTSD was a handy device to help me introduce some less than stellar character attributes.A stronger, more stable hero would make different decisions and move the story in a different direction. It is Eb's struggle that colors his actions and choices. But I wanted to write thrillers, not literary fiction, and there has been a constant danger of allowing Eb's problems to carry the story away from my chosen genre. And there is always the additional danger of making a protagonist flawed to the point where the reader decides the effort of reading isn't worth the potential reward--because they decide the protagonist is not flawed at all, but is simply a jerk. I certainly didn't want that. PTSD as choice of flaw made him, in my mind, a more sympathetic character despite his unlikable qualities.

I'm slowly learning to resist the urge to describe every aspect of Eb's PTSD...and my editor/beta reader helps to keep me honest in this regard. I also don't want the PTSD to become a cliche'.

PTSD isn't just about having flashbacks (the standard TV drama treatment of the condition) or temper issues, and sometimes the truth of the condition's effect on someone is quite graphic. I want Eb Maclean to be real, but I'm learning that every little aspect of his condition doesn't need to be explained in detail. In fact, most of those details are probably more of a distraction to the storyline.

I want my readers to see Eb as a real hero, flawed, but worthy of redemption. I expect the reader to have sympathy for Eb's problems, but I don't want that sympathy for him to take over and derail the story. It's a fine line and one that I keep in mind continually. 

A Question of Balance In Your Writing

Writing a story, a short story, novella, or a full length novel, is hard work. Most writers have a collection of unfinished novels and stories taking up space in the computer hard drive--stories that never got off the ground, or, just as likely, burned out after 100 pages or so.

Sometimes the story idea just isn't good enough, or the writer's attention is redirected elsewhere. Most writers have one or two stories that sit around in cyber never-never land, waiting to be finished.

At times, however, the story idea is fine--but the writer becomes overwhelmed in the middle of the first draft. Experienced writers are familiar with the "100 page curse", and often the writer is hard-pressed to understand why the story stalled out. Too often the writer blames "burnout", or "writer's block" for the problem, when in fact it is something very different; the real problem is that the story has been thrown out of balance, and the writer gives up and moves to another project.

Story balance is an important element of writing that is overlooked. A balanced story has just the right mixture of plot, character development, and setting. Most novel-length stories emphasize one of these elements over the others, but the best novels weave all three elements together in a way that elevates the entire work to a higher level.

That's great, but what about that unfinished manuscript? 

The first trick is to identify what type of writer you are. Some people write monumentally long first drafts and struggle to pare the finished manuscript down to size. Some writers throw a first draft together with the bare minimum...and then the challenge becomes fleshing out the finished product in a way that doesn't bury the original story.

Most writers do one or another at various times. I'm this type of writer, although I must confess that I tend to write a more streamlined first draft than I did back in the day. "Judgment Tramp" was purposefully written to be plot driven, and I tried to add just enough character development and setting to flesh the book out. 

The setting of "Judgment Tramp" was important to me--I love South Haven, Michigan, and I wanted it to be a big part of the book. I also made a decision to emulate Frederick Forsyth--I wanted my readers to have the opportunity to walk around in the town where my story was set and be able to find specific buildings and areas described in the book. But it was equally important to me that the setting of "Judgment Tramp" didn't take over from the story. I resisted the urge to write too much description of South Haven--and the finished book isn't bogged down by page after page of narrative that detracts from the plot (at least I hope it isn't!).

I also wanted my characters to be molded by the setting--we are all shaped by our locale, and Eb and Maggie are reflections of their upbringing. Michigan is a big part of who they are, and that's a key for a writer seeking balance; the characters and setting are to a great degree intertwined with each other. The plot of any story is dependent upon that character-setting relationship. Recognizing this is a huge step forward for a writer, and almost every first draft ever written needs tweaking to bring these elements into harmony with each other.

Next time I'll delve into techniques that will help writer's check their story for balance.

An Interview With Author Michael K. Rose

Michael K. Rose is quickly becoming an Indie author to watch.  He is a writer of science fiction and literary fiction novels and short stories. His work has received rave 4- and 5-star reviews and the books in his Sullivan's War series are frequent inhabitants of the Science Fiction Series bestsellers list. More information about his writing can be found at http://myriadspheres.blogspot.com

Michael, thanks for allowing us to ask you a few questions! Did you always want to be a writer?

Actually, no. I've always enjoyed writing and publishing a book was on my bucket list for a long time but during various times in my life I've wanted to be an astronaut, an actor, a musician, an archaeologist and a travel writer (which counts, I guess, and still might be something I try my hand at).


When did you first begin to think you had an aptitude for writing?

A few years ago I had written some short stories. This was when I did begin to think about being a writer. I thought they were pretty good and so I started submitting them to the fiction magazines. I did this for a couple of years, collecting rejection slips, before finally deciding to put them out there on Amazon and to see what kind of response I got.

Was there anything specific in your educational background that provided a spark for writing?

I've always been an enthusiastic reader. Early on my dad introduced me to the Sherlock Holmes stories and, via films and television shows, science fiction (I'm an unabashed Trekkie). My interest in Victorian literature has continued, as has my love for science fiction. During high school I went to a prep school in New England and had great English teachers there who introduced me to many of the classics. In fact, one of them lent me Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles from his own personal library. And writing has always come naturally to me. I never had much difficulty with spelling or grammar and there were few words that I troubled over when reading as a child. Again, I think my dad reading the Sherlock Holmes stories to me helped with that. I was exposed to words that my peers simply weren't using so as my education continued I was at an advantage in that respect.

Did you try going the traditional route at first--by wooing an agent? Or did you decide right from the start to become an indie writer? Do you feel like you made a good choice (to be an indie author)?

As mentioned, I paid my dues and collected a fair number of rejection slips before I decided to self-publish. And a year ago self-publishing wasn't even on my radar. It took getting a Kindle and finding all the wonderful self-published works available at Amazon for me to begin thinking about it. I decided I would start small, see where that went, and in November of last year I published a short story called Sleep and a collection called Inner Lives. Sales were not impressive but reviews full of high praise soon began trickling in. I was completely taken aback! I knew that I had a knack for writing but the overwhelmingly positive response was a big surprise. As of this writing, my work now has thirty-five positive reviews and only one negative review. It still amazes me that so many people think so highly of my writing.

Your books are "speculative" science fiction. How would you describe that to someone who is unfamiliar with the genre?  Do you see yourself sticking with science fiction in the future? 

Speculative fiction is simply any fiction that includes elements that are not found in the "real" world: magic, futuristic technology, vampires, etc. What I've always loved about the genre, particularly science fiction, is the limitless possibilities it offers. It is true that there are at least as many stories as there are people on the planet, but when we travel to other planets look at how many more possibilities there are! And I like the speculation, I like asking and answering the "what ifs." I like imagining what life would be like on another planet, on a spaceship, in a parallel universe. I find it endlessly fascinating to explore how other writers have imagined the universe.

Now, as a writer I do not limit myself to speculative fiction. It is the lion's share of what I write but I also have a few projects lined up that could best be called "literary fiction." Interpret that as you will. :o)

How balanced are your books--between plot, setting and character development? What aspect of this is the most difficult for you when you are knocking out a first draft? 
I actually find that setting plays less of a role in my work than either plot or character. At least so far. I have one project lined up that would, essentially, be a grand tour of the great cities of Europe and how each city affects the main character in different ways. Regarding plot, I suppose some of my more literary works (see the collection Inner Lives, for example) could be accused of being bereft of plot. They are heavy in character development. The Sullivan's War series is plot-heavy, particularly in the first book, but there is quite a bit more character development in Book II. 

Honestly, I find writing action the most difficult (ironic, considering how action-oriented Sullivan's War is). I sometimes feel like writing about people fighting gets a bit stale but based on the reviews I've managed to pull it off.

You recently released Book 2 in the Sullivan's War series, and I know you are planning on the release of Book 3 soon. Did you find that the first book in the series was the most difficult to write? 

Well, it's not too difficult with Sullivan's War, as they are all novellas. Each book was plotted after finishing the one before it, however, because even though I had a general idea of where I wanted to story to go, anything was bound to happen and throw a monkey wrench into my plans. So, that made it easier to keep things consistent. Book I came very easily to me. Book II wasn't too bad and now that I'm writing Book III, I find that I'm being over-cautious. I am trying to avoid repetition in the action scenes, descriptions, etc. So, I would say this last one is the most difficult for that reason. Book III is also the climax for the story. I have to get it right. It looks like it's going to be non-stop action from beginning to end, very fast-paced, and I hope my readers feel satisfied with the ending. I'm working hard to make sure that is the case.

What do you see as the future of the book industry? Will the traditional, brick and mortar bookstore survive? Do you feel as though the future is bright for indie authors? Is the playing field becoming more level with the rise of the e-book? Do you think e-book marketing is beginning to follow established patterns? Is there a clear-cut method for success as an indie writer? 

I'll address these questions as a whole rather than one at a time. I actually wrote a blog post about the future of books (here: http://myriadspheres.blogspot.com/2012/01/future-of-books.html). Briefly, I believe that the mass market paperback will become a thing of the past and while books will survive, they will survive as collectors' editions, items for those who want a physical copy of a book they love to have signed, display on a shelf, etc. I like to use the analogy of audiophile-grade vinyl records. They are still produced in small batches for those who want them but most of the population will opt for the CD or mp3 version. I could be wrong in this but if an ebook costs the same as a paperback (and in many cases less) and ereaders become increasingly more common, I think a lot of people will find themselves preferring digital copies. I hope that bookstores don't die off. There are still many collectible books out there, books people will want on their shelves. Will stores selling exclusively new material survive? I don't know. Barnes & Noble made the transition to ebooks and they could still have brick-and-mortar stores fifty years from now. But I doubt they'll be the warehouse-type operations they are now. They will carry the collectible versions and if they're smart, they'll include a free digital version with each physical purchase (just as some CD manufacturers have done). If they're smart they'll also begin to offer ebooks in multiple formats. If they offer mobi files of a book at the Nook store they will not be formatting themselves out of  taking part in the biggest game in town: the Kindle. And the really smart retailer will produce an ereader that can read all the major ebook formats. They'll sell all the formats as well.

Regarding marketing, it is all about exposure, as far as I can tell. The more eyeballs on your book the better and it really doesn't seem to matter who those eyeballs belong to. I think ebook readers are, partially due to price, beginning to experiment outside of their comfort zones when it comes to book genre. Indie authors are developing large and loyal followings. It's completely possible a reader will pick up a book by an Indie author based on rank and ratings and not even realize it's self-published. The path to success seems clear: get your book out there in any way possible. But do so tactfully and respectfully. No one likes a self-interested asshole, which is something writers like you and I realize. Make connections. By helping each other we help ourselves. If a potential reader sees ten tweets about a book, it is certainly better that those tweets come from ten different people rather than one. And on that note, I would like to thank you for all the support you've offered me and other Indie authors. And thank you for the great interview as well!

Thanks, Michael! As you mentioned, we all have to support each other, and I enjoy working in concert with great people like you to promote Indie authors.

Wrong Place, Right Time: How Dr. John Reminded Me To Study the Masters In Music and Writing

The other day I made a decision to study Dr. John's piano technique. For those of you who don't follow music, Dr. John is the dean of New Orleans-style piano players, and he's well versed in the history of music in his city. Here's a YouTube link if you want to hear him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUX5RKK1gtI

I've been familiar with his music for years, but I never took the time to study it closely. I always figured I could approximate the New Orleans style with the skills I had, but lately I've been unhappy with my solo work when playing jobs with my bands, and I decided delve deeper into the New Orleans sound for inspiration.

It was a good thing I did--my idea of New Orleans piano had drifted considerably over the years...I thought I knew the sound and the techniques, but a few minutes of listening showed that I'd been fooling myself. I sounded nothing like Dr. John--and in fact, I was completely wrong in my interpretation of the style. Listen to the video--Dr. John has that distinctive right hand trill in his solos, and I had completely forgotten about it because I'd stopped listening to the music I was attempting to emulate.

I could have rationalized. After all, I was interpreting the style in my own unique way--I could have been satisfied with faking it. I could have continued playing the same old crap and telling myself it was good enough when it really wasn't. I probably would have done that (hell, I did do that!), but I finally got fed up with my same-old, same-old solos that never changed from one week to the next.

I realized that I stopped adding the trills to my solos because they were hard to do. Somewhere over the years they had slipped away from me, and when I started practicing I realized how bad my overall technique was--I'd also stopped practicing between jobs a while back.

Writing and music have a lot in common, and writers must be readers in the same way musicians have to also listen to music. I'm not trying to copy Dr. John anymore than I try to copy Ken Follett or Stephen King.  

But I must understand Dr. John's music in order to play Jeff Currie's style of New Orleans blues. Dr. John has to understand the music of Professor Longhair and Jelly Roll Morton to create the "Dr. John" style. I might not use the right hand trill often, but it needs to be in my bag of tricks, along with other techniques I glean during my piano studies. If nothing else, I'll have that little push I need to get me out of my comfort zone.

Everyone has to have a baseline of knowledge to perfect (or even improve) a skill. Listening to the style and technique of the masters is the first step toward that end for a musician, and reading and studying the work of top writers, is the first step for a writer. In other words, when you find yourself on the right road but you took a wrong turn, get back to basics...

I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I'd have said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I'd a took the right road
But I must have took a wrong turn
Would have made the right move
But I made it at the wrong time
I been on the right road
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a good place
And I wonder what it's bad for...From "Right Place, Wrong Time", Dr. John

Writers, Diamonds Are Just Lumps Of Coal That Stuck It Out, and You Can Too!

Sorry about the long delay between blog posts--I caught some sort of virus that bedeviled me all last week.

In my last post I mentioned some of the writers who inspired me, and someone commented on the fact that I was at least partially motivated by the thought that I could do as well as a best-selling author. I guess that was a bit shocking, but I honestly believe many of us started our first book with that exact thought in mind.

I think our favorite books intimidate us a little--and in my case the classic authors (Twain, Lee, Hemingway) still seem unreachable. But I was never intimidated by Clive Cussler, Jeffrey Archer, or Jack Higgins. Perhaps I should have been (and I'll say it again--I have a MUCH greater appreciation for those authors now that I've actually finished my two books). 

You may be searching for another blog to read right now, after reading that horribly arrogant spiel, but hang on a second. That's what it takes to write a book--especially the first one. Writers need self confidence and (dare I say it?) even a touch of arrogance to see the way through a book-length project. Some writers may not show it, but I've never met a successful author who didn't believe in their talent--at least most of the time.

Don't get me wrong--writers have low moments. My best friend could tell you all about that--especially after a phone session devoted to propping me up when I'm going through the sulky-mopeys. All self confident people have moments of doubt, but those moments don't overwhelm successful writers--at least not for very long.

You don't believe me? You're wrong--because here's the deal: successful writers are (or should be) judged by only two things...tenacity, and a willingness to keep educating themselves. That's it.

Nothing else matters--I could care less if a writer is published. A successful writer (the writer who never quits trying and never stops learning) will be published, today, tomorrow, or next year. It's just a matter of time.  Indie authors aren't left out of the party--the same confidence that makes a person a successful writer can make the writer a successful Indie author.  Writing and marketing an Indie book is all about tenacity and continual learning, to gain knowledge about what works and what doesn't.

I was an unsuccessful writer for a long time. Before that I was just a guy who talked a lot about trying to write. I was sure I could write great books, but I never proved it to anyone. Now I've written two books, and I'm still not sure I've proved anything--to me or anyone else. But I'm a successful writer, and I still think I have the ability to write as well as those authors I named--if not now, then someday. My next book will be better.

I really believe everything I just wrote...99% of the time--and my friend will be there for me when I go through my next emotional swoon. 

Find the confidence to believe that you can write at a professional level. Go figure out how to do it--and never stop learning. Have confidence. Fake it if necessary. Fake it until you believe it--and find that special friend who will believe on those days when you feel like a fraud.

Be Different! Or The Value of Finding the Unique Angle

I'm a published writer.

I'm writing this post for the beginning writers out there--this one is for you. Maybe you have been trying to secure an agent, or perhaps you've been submitting articles, essays or short stories to magazines. I wish you luck, and I have tremendous respect for you and your tenacity. Believe me...I know what you're going through. It isn't easy to break through and get that first publishing credit.

But it is possible. I know it is, because I'm a published writer--and you can do it if I can. I'm not upset if you are thinking the same thing after reading my blog--in fact I'm hoping you realize that I'm not blessed with any special talent as a writer. I didn't get my first publishing credit because I was a great writer--it came because I came up with a good idea that caught the editor's eye.

My essay (the second essay I'd ever written) was published in the May, 2006 issue of Traverse  magazine, a regional travel magazine covering Northern Michigan. I submitted it to the editor on a Friday, and they bought it the following Monday. Later, I found out that they had rejected over five-hundred essays before choosing mine for publication. Most of the rejected essays were written well, a few of the rejected essays ended up going back into the slush pile for future consideration, but most of them were rejected outright.

Most of those rejected essays did a great job of describing the region--they described the sugar-sand beaches of the Lake Michigan shore, the sun dappled, azure blue water, the fiery glow of a Northern Michigan sunset, or the beauty of the fall foliage, as seen from a log cabin on a hillside overlooking the bay. All of those subjects were covered--multiple times, with every descriptive adjective known to man dressing up the writing. The only problem was that the editorial staff had read it all before--many, many times, and none of those essays stood out because the editors get five hundred of them every month.

My essay was about an abandoned railroad bridge. There was no sugar sand beach, no sun dappled shoreline, no azure blue water in sight anywhere. In fact, the bridge itself was gone, and only the stone abutments marked the spot in the forest where it had stood. I told the story of that bridge. My essay about a lost bridge on an abandoned railroad stood out because it was different--but it also stood out because it told something about the region and the people who once lived there, and the editors were starving for something besides the usual, "My trip to Michigan" essays they received every month.

That's what it took--I didn't know anything about the publishing business at the time, but I'd stumbled onto a basic truth of the writing market. Editors and Agents see the same thing constantly--and your travel essay might be well written, but it doesn't matter if it's the same old thing. The fiction book market is no different. I can only imagine how many vampire novels are pitched to agents every month, and it makes sense that most of them are D.O.A. unless the vampires are different in some way from the rest of the bloodsuckers in the agent's slush pile.

Maybe I should think about writing another novel--one where the handsome vampire (I think I'll call him Edward) lives under an old railroad bridge...near a sugar-sand beach and sun dappled, azure blue water. There's this girl he likes (I'm thinking Bella is a good name for her), and she lives in a log cabin on a hillside near the water, and she goes to the bridge late one afternoon to watch the fiery red sunset....

E-book, part 2

I didn't think it would be such a long gap between posts, but life can get in the way....

Releasing Judgment Tramp as an e-book is proving to be a challenge--like everything in life, the devil is in the details, and the details of formatting a manuscript for an acceptable looking e-book are way beyond this technophobe. I'm lucky because I have a dear friend who is working tirelessly to figure out the process--and Kristin has been able get some help from other talented people along the way ( a big thanks to Vickie Taylor is due, among others...), and Kristin seems to have things figured out--I think.

It's easy in some ways to be a writer in the 21st century--there are resources available to anyone nowadays that make writing (and the necessary research) more feasible for more people. I can do research on a subject in a few hours today, and I can find tidbits of information that would have taken months or even years of searching out in pre-internet days. I can type on my laptop computer and save my work quickly and easily--no carbon paper copies needed, no file cabinets full of completed manuscripts required. 

I can communicate globally, sharing ideas and information effortlessly via a multitude of social networking sites, chat-rooms and forums. It's all good.

I can network with people globally, and I can market my work much more effectively, all because of the internet. But...there's a catch (you KNEW there had to be one somewhere...).

All of this wonderful stuff takes time away from writing, to the point where it seems that it would be very easy to social network and forum-surf the day away, and never have time to write. That's one of the catch-22's of the new age--it is easy to lose the focus of the mission-writing-and it is so easy to be seduced by distractions.

We have to conquer a different form of gravity today to reach the writing mountaintop, and the grade is still steep.  It's a different climb than the one writers were faced with back in the day...it requires an equal amount of dedication, but in some ways it requires a completely different set of skills. I admire the people who can find time to write, and also find the time and energy to market themselves, research new projects, and wade through the minefield of new technology. I'm not one of those people, and my one saving grace is that I'm smart enough to realize that I need help to achieve my goals.

I'm very fortunate--I have the most valuable resource of all--I have a friend named Kristin. Kristin allows me to be a writer, and she takes care of so much of the other stuff--she is the reason that I will succeed in the brave new world of writing. I couldn't possibly imagine doing this without her.

A good friend can make the difference--and I have the best friend. She doesn't have all the answers--but she won't stop until she does, and that makes all the difference.